On faith and crisis
People may flirt with religious belief in times of crisis, but they rarely commit.
People may flock to churches in times of crisis, but that doesn't mean they stay, says the Very Reverend Douglas Stoute.
"We no longer live in a world where people attend church automatically," says Stoute, who is also Dean of Toronto and Rector of St. James' Cathedral.
Instead, he says, people generally fall into four categories: devout church attendees; those who believe, but are too lazy for religion; those who are angry with the church; and those who haven't been exposed to religion of any kind.
In times of crisis, he continues, the differences between the devout and the lazy is most apparent.
Those who usually sleep in on Sundays, Stoute continues, might wake up "in the agony of the moment," as they did on the morning of September 11, and turn to the church for momentary comfort. But they rarely stay.
On that September day, Stoute says, the early afternoon mass had over 200 people in attendance. Many of the attendees had family or loved ones who were in New York at the time of the attacks.
In comparison, he says, the present economic crisis has not yet had the same direct impact on people.
People are apprehensive about the current economic climate, he admits, and it's an unsettling feeling. But it doesn't yet have the masses running for shelter.
And even if they do, their commitment remains fickle.
However, his diagnosis for the economy is the same for the future of his church. "I'm neither an optimist, nor a pessimist," he says. "I'm hopeful."
Links:
Losing faith in the religion of the marketplace, Toronto Star, December 23, 2008
Hallelujah! The recession has come, Globe and Mail, January 23, 2009